Movie Review – Secrets & Lies(1996)

Secrets & Lies is directed by British filmmaker Mike Leigh. It won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Brenda Blethyn won the Best Actress award. It is a UK comedy-drama film about secrets and lies in families. It portrays day-to-day ordinary life in the United Kingdom. 

It began with a woman's parentage and identity. Hortense(Marianne Jean-Baptiste) was raised by an adopted family. After the death of her adoptive mother, she traced her birth mother. When digging deeper into her parentage, she encountered complicated issues. The long lost Black daughter Hortense became an optometrist. She dated her White biological mother Cynthia (Brenda Blethyn) in a cafe who worked as a factory worker. How can a white woman give birth to a black child? There is heavy racism in the United Kingdom. It is the inferiority of humans to exclude the differences between people. For instance, Black student Stephen Lawrence was murdered by a group of white men in the United Kingdom in the 1980s. Therefore, people promote more about unions to eliminate racism. People were born to be equal. Not only white people dominate important positions. Evolution happens. British Indian Rishi who has light brown skin works as a prime minister in the UK. 

Cynthia lives with her other white daughter Roxanne(Claire Rushbrook). The writer sets the counterbalance between class difference and race. The orphan is black but is well-raised by the adoptive mother as a professional optometrist. She earns a great amount of income. Her birth mother who puts her up for adoption at birth is white but works as a factory worker. She keeps her working-class lifestyle. The accent of the mother and the way she behaves shows her social identity. British people are easy to identify where people are from. Cynthia’s brother Maurice (Timothy Spall) is a photographer with a wonderful love and work life with his wife Monica (Phyllis Logan). They live a middle-class lifestyle. They all live in their circles until the appearance of Hortense. Everyone reconnects and emerges from other complicated issues. Maurice does not contact Cynthia as they have different living lifestyles and living conditions. However, they reunite in the festival which brings people together such as Roxanne’s 21st birthday.

The most famous people in England must be the British royal family. The director aims to explore the theme of family. He took a close look at different families and depicted the relationships between each family member delicately.

They all have their own secrets and lies even if they have blood relations. Cynthia had a causal relationship when she was young. She gave birth to Hortense but could not have the ability to raise her so she sent her to the adopted centre. After years, she gave birth to Roxanne.

When Hortense and Cynthia meet in the cafe, they both have complex feelings. When Cynthia faces the long-lost daughter, she recalls her buried past. When she gets to know her daughter, she has to take a cigarette to relax. After knowing each other more, she invites Hortense to join her daughter's birthday party but she cannot reveal her daughter’s identity to everyone. That is the time to see all her family members. Her other daughter Roxanne also reaches her age to have a love relationship with men. Cynthia only met men that caused her trouble and she is not married. She gave birth without getting married. She does not know how to be a good mother.

All participants in Roxanne’s birthday party look happy. The one-take scene of people having meals together outdoors shows how they interact with each other. They sit closely together and everything looks fine. However, all the secrets and lies emerge after the social gathering. The director arranges the flow of the story gradually. 

Cynthia and Maurice are not so close as mentioned above. An argument between Cynthia and Maurice reveals their secrets and lies between each other. Cynthia judges Maurice’s wife that she should have children if she is a good wife. That is the social expectation that having a good family should have children. Maurice does not explain. He lives a wonderful middle-class life that many people envy. But he also has his secret. He loves his wife but she cannot have a baby because of her body condition. Being infertile is a big flaw of being a woman. His wife cannot express the flaw herself. The long-hidden secret is disclosed after the argument. The irony part is that Cynthia has two daughters as she had a messy love life but she cannot afford to give them a good life. Maurice can support his family but his wife cannot have a baby. His wife does not get along with his sister. Maurice helps his customers to keep the good times as a photographer but he does not have a good time with his wife and sister. There are lots of break down time in this film that all characters have to face their struggles. Also, Cynthia lives a hard life as a woman. Women have lots of worries. Women worry about the ability to give birth. If they do not give birth, they are not women. Women have their rights and choices to decide how they treat their bodies. Women have to do body checks regularly and treasure their bodies. 

In the film, the ordinary life of British people is shown. How do British people live? British people enjoy a cup of English Tea with milk or sugar without the teabag in the cup. They emphasize etiquette and table manners. People like to go to pubs to chill, chit chat and watch football games. They have bread with the heavy taste of marmite. The costume design and movie setting show the living conditions of different British people. 

To conclude, the great thing about this film is that many subtle things intertwine with other things. There are many ironic parts between people. A good relationship can break the difference between race, class, and occupation. All people have undercurrents in their lives. Anything can set people apart. But people also go through ups and downs like other people.